1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for a model publishing framework.
2. Description of the Related Art
In developing a software program for a computing environment, the developer may create a model of an object oriented programming environment using a software development tool known as a modeler. The modeler is used to specify, visualize, construct and document a model of an object-oriented programming system under development. The modeler may code the model in a development language, such as the Unified Modeling Language (UML). A model may be defined at different levels of abstraction. For instance, a design model may provide representations of classes, class interfaces and class relationships, such as inheritance and subclass relationships. An implementation model may provide the specific methods and objects for each class, and may be generated as a Javadoc-style document. A scenario model may model all scenarios in the system or business with use case diagrams that describe the system in terms of actors, which are external agents that request a service from the system and use cases. Each use case may describe the scenario as a sequence of steps that are performed within the scenario, or the conditions of the scenario. Other types of models the modeler may create include, but are not limited to, object diagrams, sequence diagrams, collaboration diagrams, statechart diagrams, activity diagrams, component diagrams, and deployment diagrams.
The user may want to render the model as output to transfer to another person that may not have the modeler program that was used to create the model. In such case, the user may generate the model in a commonly available format, such as HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”) or the Portable Document Framework (PDF), to share.
One issue with the user generating the model into a commonly available format is that the user may create the output in a specific style predefined by the modeler. However, the modeler may only provide a limited number of formatting and customization options for the output, which may not produce the output in the desired format.